Frustration happens. There is no way around it. How we deal with it determines if there will be growth.
In building my website I became frustrated a number of times. I was working on a certain section and I told the kind chat lady on Domain.com (after 2 hours with me) that I was done. She typed back that I needed to keep trying and that she was there to support me. I kept trying, but we did not solve the problem that night.
Three days later, it finally worked. The feeling of pride in accomplishing this task was immeasurable. I remember telling a middle school science class one time that self esteem or pride comes from proving to yourself that you can overcome frustration and grow through your experience; not from wearing a pair of socks that say “I am Special.” As it turns out, one of my students had an aunt who made these socks. I got a pair the next day that said, “I am Special.” I wore them with pride.
Students will become frustrated under our facilitation in the classroom. How can we help them understand the experiences so growth occurs? I believe that if your students feel they can trust you, they will be more likely to keep going and work through the frustration. How do you build that trust? Through heavy loading your first 4 weeks of school with relationship building.
It takes time to cultivate a classroom where trust is established. Strategies and activities, and your language, are all import to focus on in the beginning of the year. Over 36 of years of teaching, I have seen the teachers who do this have October through May filled with student growth. Developing trust in your classroom through relationship building will help students work through their times of frustration.
Responsive Classroom is a fantastic site for ideas on building relationships in the classroom.
Check out the video I made about cultivating trust in the classroom during times of frustration:
A thought to puzzle over…
How do you work through your frustration and what growth has occured?